Production server for automated control of production document management

ABSTRACT

A printing workflow system for coordinating production of document processing jobs among a plurality of cells, where a cell is comprised of at least one device for completing the document processing jobs. The present invention is directed toward further substances in the art as they relate to a print shop comprised of a network of cells to accomplish printing a document processing job. Each cell is comprised of at least one printing device for completing the document processing jobs. The print workflow is further comprised of a workflow mapping module that determines a workflow of one of the many document processing jobs for processing. A job description module for splitting the various document processing jobs into sub-jobs for processing by the printing devices in the cells. A print cell controller at any one of the cells for receiving at least one sub-job and for further split the sub-job into lots for processing among devices in the selected cell. The printing workflow system of the present inventions allows for the distribution of document processing jobs throughout a network environment.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The present invention relates generally to a document production serverand more particularly to coordinating production of document processingjobs in a print shop.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

Conventional print shops are organized in a manner that is functionallyindependent of the print jobs, the print job mix, and the total volumeof print jobs passing through the system. Most commonly, equipment thatis somewhat related is grouped together on a factory floor. This causesall printing equipment to be grouped in a single locale and for example,all finishing equipment to be grouped in a separate locale. In otherwords, conventional print shops typically organize resources intoseparate departments, each department corresponding to a particularprocess that is performed in completing a print job.

When a print job arrives, the print job sequentially passes though eachdepartment. Once the print job is completely processed by a firstdepartment, the print job is placed in queue for the next department.The queue is sometimes in the form of a temporary storage facility. Thisprocess continues until the print shop makes its way through eachdepartment and is completed.

There are a number of limitations with conventional print shops. Forexample, the equipment employed in conventional print shops is not wellinterfaced with internal computer systems. In addition, the equipment isoften physically organized in an inefficient arrangement. Typicalarrangements employ machines that require operators to load/unload jobs,monitor job progress, pass jobs on to a next station, and commence anext job. In between each of the steps, each job is commonly stored in astorage area awaiting the next step of the job. As a result, excessinventories may buildup and add to the costs of the job. A physical jobcard is used to track progress of a job. The job card specifies thesteps needed to be completed to finish the job. The job card alsospecifies the steps already completed, and the order in which steps areto be performed. The data regarding job completion is manually added tothe job card, or sometimes is only remembered by the operators workingon the job. The lack of real time information concerning thecontemporaneous state of the machines and the jobs leads to lessefficient plant utilization, and lower productivity. Further, large jobscannot easily be split into more efficient smaller job lots due to thedifficulty in tracking the smaller job lots.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

For the foregoing reasons, there exists in the art a need for a moreefficient strategy to producing print jobs. The present inventionprovides a solution to the above-described problems by providing asystem and method for coordinating production of document processingjobs among a plurality of autonomous cells. A “cell” comprises at leastone device for completing the document processing jobs.

In accordance with one example embodiment of the present invention, aprinting workflow system is disposed in a network for coordinatingproduction of document processing jobs. The printing workflow system iscomprised of a plurality of cells, where each cell is comprised of atleast one device for completing the document processing jobs.

The printing workflow system may include a workflow mapping module thatdetermines a workflow of the document processing jobs. The printingworkflow system additionally includes a job description module forsplitting the various document processing jobs into sub-jobs. A printcell controller is provided at selected one of the cells for receivingat least one sub-job and for further splitting the sub-job into lots forprocessing among devices in the selected cell.

In accordance with an additional aspect of the present invention, amethod is provided for assigning sub-jobs to available cells in apriority workflow system for printing a product-type. The method entailsidentifying the maximum capacity of the available cells to print theproduct type. The current capacity of each of the available cells toprint product type is also identified. Based on the maximum capacity andcurrent loading of each of the available cells, a current capacity ofeach of the available cells for printing the product-type is determined.At least one of the available cells is assigned for printing.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The aforementioned features and advantages, and other features andaspects of the present invention, will become understood with regard tothe following description and accompanying drawings; wherein:

FIG. 1 is a diagrammatic illustration of a printing workflow system incombination with cells and their corresponding devices according to oneaspect of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a diagrammatic illustration of software components employed inthe printing workflow system of FIG. 1.

FIG. 3 is an illustration of a server 20 employed in the printingworkflow system.

FIG. 4 illustrates the splitting of a document processing job intosub-jobs in the illustrative embodiment.

FIG. 5 is an illustration of a capacity of a cell.

FIG. 6 is an illustration of capabilities of a cell.

FIG. 7 is an illustration of splitting of a sub-job.

FIG. 8 is an illustration of a job decomposition module.

FIG. 9 is an illustration of data structures of a document processingjob.

FIG. 10 illustrates step performed by a product cell controller.

FIG. 11 is an illustration of assigning “kanbans” to a documentprocessing job

FIG. 12 is an illustration of assigning sub-jobs to cells.

FIG. 13 is an illustration of assigning sub-jobs to determining thecapabilities, capacities, and current loading determining the currentcapacity of each of the available cells.

FIG. 14 is an illustration of the steps needed to calculate the termsand capacity of each available cell.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

The illustrative embodiment of the present invention provides a leanproduction process server (LPPS) for coordinating production of documentprocessing jobs in a document factory (such as a print shop). The serverexploits lean production techniques to control document processing jobs.The server can be run on a UNIX, Windows or Window NT based-platform,such as a server computer system. The server determines workflowpriorities and manages workflow accordingly. Those skilled in the artwill appreciate that the present invention may also be practiced withplatforms that run other varieties of operating systems. Moreover, theserver need not run on a dedicated computer system but rather may run onanother variety of electronic device, such as a printer, copier, etc.Workflow priorities for document processing jobs can be determined byobserving the various jobs processing units.

The illustrative embodiment presumes that the document factory has beenpartitioned into autonomous cells. Each cell is a logical grouping ofresources (including both equipment and manpower) in the documentfactory that is sufficient for completing at least one type of documentprocessing job. Thus, a first cell may include a printer and binderwhereas a second cell may include a copier and a collator. The LPPS isresponsible for distributing document processing jobs in such cells inan efficient manner (as will be described in more detail below).

Referring now in detail the drawings, wherein the parts are designatedby the reference numerals throughout, FIGS. 1 through 14 illustrateexample embodiments of a printing workflow system and a method forassigning sub-jobs to various cells in the printing workflow system oraccording to the present invention. Although the present invention willbe described with reference to the example embodiments illustrated inthe figures, it should be understood that the present invention could beembodied in many alternative forms.

FIG. 1 illustrates a printing workflow system 2 in a print shop (i.e., adocument factory). The printing workflow system 2 controls a multitudeof cells 4, 6, 8 connected by communication links 10 to the printingworkflow system 2. The printing workflow system 2 sends information toand receives information from the cells 4, 6, 8 via the communicationlinks 10. The cells 4, 6, 8 are comprised of at least one device 5 forassisting in completing a document processing job of a givenproduct-type. For example, printing device 5 can be a laser printer 600dpi and printing device 7 can be a color printer 1200 dpi. There is nodependence among cells 4, 6, 8 and their corresponding printing devicesin that each operates autonomously relative to the other cells.

FIG. 2 illustrates several of the software modules employed in theprinting workflow systems 2. The printing workflow system 2, includes aworkflow mapping module 12 that determines the workflow for selecteddocument processing jobs. As will be described in more detail below, theworkflow identifies the operational steps reserved to complete adocument processing job. The workflow also identifies the sequence ofthese operational steps. A job decomposition module 14 is included forsplitting the document processing jobs into sub-jobs and for sending thesub-jobs to cells for completion. A product cell controller (PCC) 16 maybe provided at given cells for receiving at least one sub-job to furthersplit the sub-job to be processed by a printing device in the cell.Lastly, a cell assignment module 18 is provided for assigning sub-jobsto be processed by a cell.

FIG. 3 illustrates a server computer system 20, (i.e., LPSS) that issuitable for use in the printing workflow system 2. The server 20includes processor 22, a storage 23, communication links 26, and aninput module 24. The input module 24 is used to receive input fromvarious devices via the communications links 26. The input module 24receives the document processing jobs on behalf of the server 20. Theprocessor 22 executes the programming instructions on the server 20 tomanage document processing jobs. The server 20 stores the instructionsin the storage 23. For example, modules 12, 14, and 18 and other dataare stored in storage 23. Module 16 may be executed on a separate serverthat is particular to a cell.

In general, a print job is received and a workflow for the print job isdeveloped by the workflow mapping module 12. The job decompositionmodule may split the job into sub-jobs. The sub-jobs or job are thenassigned to cells for completion by the cell assignment module 18. Thesub-jobs may be sent to product cell controller 16 of the assignedcells, where each sub-job may be further sub divided.

FIG. 4 illustrates the printing workflow system 2 interacting with acell in a network provided in a print server. The product cellcontroller 16 for the cell receives a sub-job 48 from the server 20 tobe further processed by the cell. The server 20 stores in its storage 23the capacities and capabilities of each cell in the print shop toproduce different product-types. For example, cell 32 in the networkproduces three different types of documents and cell 40 produces twotypes of documents. (It is quite possible that two different cells canproduce similar document types. A document type is uniquelycharacterized by the sequence of processing steps to completely finishthe document) The server 20 stores this information to determine whichcell has the capabilities to process a document job. The printingworkflow system 2 also stores the capacity of each cell to determine thevolume of a particular product-type that a cell can produce. As statedabove, the job decomposition module 14 splits a document processing jobinto sub-jobs to be sent to various autonomous cells for processing. Thecells in the network are autonomous and can produce their respectiveproduct entirely by themselves. Thus, in the example shown in FIG. 4, adocument processing job is split into sub-jobs 48 and 50 that are sentto cells 32 and 40, respectively. The product cell controllers 34 and 42send the sub-jobs 48 and 50 to devices 36, 37, 38 and 44, 45, 46 in therespective cells 32 and 40 for processing.

FIG. 5 illustrates an example of how capacity is defined for a cell inthe illustrative embodiment. As stated above, the printing workflowsystem 2 stores the capacity of each cell. “Capacity” is the maximumvolume of a particular product type that the cell can produce for a timeperiod. For example, FIG. 5 shows capacities for 31, 33, and 34 threedifferent product types (Product A, Product B, and Product C) Theprinting workflow system 2 updates the capacities and makes it easier todetermine which cells should be assigned a sub-job.

Capabilities are used to determine the assignment for a cell to processa sub-job. FIG. 6 shows an example of the capabilities 39 stored for acell 32. Cell 32 is capable of processing various document product-typesA, B, C. Hence, capabilities 41, 43, and 45 are stored for cell 32. Forexample, if a user has a document of product-type D, then cell 32 wouldnot be the choice to accomplish the processing of the document becausethe cell 32 does not support such a capability. The print workflowsystem 2, stores the capabilities for each cell in the print shop. Thisallows the cell assignment module 18 to examine the capacities andcapabilities of the cells to determine which cell to assign a particularsub-job.

The workflow mapping module 12 of the printing workflow system 2determines the workflow for document processing jobs. Workflow isrepresented strategically as a tree diagram. FIG. 7 illustrates asexample embodiment of a workflow tree diagram. Once the printingworkflow system 2 reviews an input document processing job, the workflowmapping module 12 generates a tree diagram representation of thedocument processing job and the input that outlines the sequence ofoperations that need to be performed to complete and deliver thedocument processing job. For example, the workflow 46 demonstrates adocument processing job to print fifty blue envelopes with red and blacklettering and to print 1000 pages of a certain document with blacklettering of two kinds of letterhead A & B. The workflow mapping modulesplits the fifty blue-type envelopes with red and black lettering andthe 1000-page document with black lettering of two kinds of letterhead A& B into sub-jobs 48, 50. Thus, creating two sub-jobs 48, 50 that aremutually independent from each other. Given that sub-job 48 requiresfifty blue envelopes, 25 blue envelopes having red lettering and 25 blueenvelopes having black lettering. The product cell controller 16 furthersplits sub-job 48 into two lots 52, 54.

The workflow mapping module 12 determines workflow so that the workflowis reasonable for the cell and device arrangements. For example, if theprint shop only has one printer to print blue-type envelops with red andblack lettering, then the workflow mapping would not split sub-job 50into two lots for two print devices. The workflow mapping module 12splits sub-job 50, which requires 1000 pages with letterhead A and Binto lots 56 and 58, where 500 pages with letterhead A and 500 pageswith letterhead B are printed. The other modules 14, 16, 18 of theprinting workflow system 2 use the workflow mapping module 12 to aid indistributing sub-jobs among the various cells in the network.

The job decomposition module 14 of the printing workflow system 2receives a document processing job and splits the document processingjob into sub-jobs. As shown in FIG. 8, document processing job 62 isprocessed by the job decomposition module 64 to determine whetherdecomposition is appropriate. The document processing job 62 is composedof a multitude of printing requests. Dependent on the size of thedocument processing job 62 and the overall capacity of the cellarrangements in the network, the job decomposition module 64 determineshow to process the document processing job 62. In the case shown in FIG.8, the job decomposition module 64 splits the document processing job 62into autonomous sub-jobs 66, 68, 70.

The job decomposition module 64 uses workflow information created by theworkflow mapping module 46 to decide how to split the documentprocessing job 62. Once the document processing job 62 has been split,the sub-jobs 66, 68, 70 are sent to a number of cells 72, 74, 76 forfurther processing. The job decomposition module 64 provides a flexibleway to distribute sub-jobs 66, 68, 70 to cells 72, 74, 76 in thenetwork. For example, when cell 72 receives sub-job 66, the cell 72determines how to process sub-job 72 among the printing and/or finishingdevices 77, 78, 79. The job decomposition module 64 decides which of thecells 72, 74, 76 will receive the sub-jobs 66, 68, 70 to efficientlyprocess document processing job 62.

Each document processing job 62 is composed of a set of parameters thatdefine its structure. FIG. 9 shows an example of some parameters for adocument processing job. The document processing job 80 is comprised ofa set of defined parameters 84, 86, 88, 90, 82. These parameters 84, 86,88, 90, 82 are provided by a customer and inputted into the network withor without human intervention. The printing workflow system 2 validatesthe document processing job 80 to ensure that the job 80 is valid andcontains all relevant parameters 84, 86, 88, 90, 82 to process it. Theprinting workflow system 2 parses the document processing job 80 toguarantee validity of the job. The data parameter 84 defines the duedate that a particular document processing job needs to be completed.Also, data parameters 86 and 88 defines the quantity of a product-typeto be processed in the document processing job 80 and the method ofdelivery (UPS or FedEx) being used to deliver the completed documentprocessing job 80. The data parameter 90 defines the method of payment(credit card, debit, check) for the completed document processing job80. The data parameter 82 defines any special processing instructionsthat are not stipulated in data parameters 84, 86, 88, 90 that areadditionally necessary to completely process the job. For example,sending a portion of document processing job 80 to one location usingone method of delivery while sending the other portion to anotherlocation using a different method of delivery.

FIG. 10 illustrates a product cell controller (PCC). Once the cells 72,74, 76 receive their respective sub-jobs 66, 68, 70 each cell 72, 74, 76employs its product cell controller (PCC) 116 for managing furtherprocessing of the sub-jobs. As shown in FIG. 8, the job decompositionmodule 64 performs the splitting of the job into sub-jobs and sends thesub-job information 66, 68, 70 to the respective cells. At this point, acell 100 receives information to process one of these sub-jobs 98. ThePCC 102 for the cell 100 receives the sub-job 98 for further processing.The PCC 102 further splits the sub-job 98 into lots 104, 106, 108 forprocessing. PCC 102 uses the workflow system 96 of document processingjob 94 to assign which devices 110, 112, 114 to use to accomplishprocessing the sub-job 98. The optimal lot size is determined byanalyzing the workflow of the document processing job 94 andcharacteristics of its various elements. The PCC 102 has the ability toadjust the lot-size. For example, cell 100 may take the documentprocessing job 94 size of 300,000 and split them into lot sizes of150,000 to be distributed among the devices 110, 112, 114.

FIG. 11 illustrates using a “kanban” (i.e., an electronic job card)assigned to a specific sub-job according to one output of the presentinvention. The PCC 116 uses a pull control policy where the last devicein the workflow sends authorization to upstream process to supply itwith the necessary input. This information is cascaded via the use ofpre-specified number of kanbans per operation of a lot. For example, adevice 122 may send an authorization to upstream printer to supply itwith job lot 118 of 300 pages to begin printing. It could be assigned 3“kanbans” by PCC 116, while device 124 may send another authorization toupstream to supply it with job 120 or 500 pages to begin printing. Also,it would be assigned 5 “kanbans”. PCC 116 keeps track of the number ofkanbans that devices 122, 124 use. Also, PCC 116 manages the maximumnumber of “kanbans” to use in each of the devices 122, 124. As thesekanbans are freed up when lots have been processed, they becomeavailable for future authorization. The PCC 116 adjusts the lot sizes118, 120 for better utilization by the devices 122, 124. Thisarrangement allows PCC more control of the utilization of devices toaccomplish processing lots 118, 120.

FIG. 12 illustrates using a cell assignment module to assign sub-jobs tocells. The printing workflow system 130 stores all the necessaryinformation 132 used by the cell assignment module, such as maximumcapacity, current capacity and current loading of a cell. Essentially,the print workflow system 130 updates all the necessary information 132of cells 138, 140, 142 if there is adding or removal of devices in aparticular cell. Having the printing workflow system 130 update all ofthe necessary information 132, allows cell assignment module access toupdated information without retrieving such information from the cells138, 140, and 142. The cell assignment module 136 follows various stepsbefore the determination of which cells 138, 140, and 142 will handlesub-job 134.

FIG. 13 illustrates the steps used by the cell assignment module 136 toassign a sub-job 134 to one of the cells 138, 140, and 142. As shown instep 152 the cell module needs to identify the maximum capacity of eachcell to handle any sub-job. The various cells 138, 140, and 142 eachhave their own maximum capacity to process a sub-job 134. In step 154,the cell assignment module 136 identifies the current loading of eachrespective cell. Current loading signifies the amount of work beingprocessed by the cell at a given time. As shown in FIG. 12, cells 138,140, and 142 have their respective current loading 144, 146, 148. Instep 156, demonstrates based on the maximum capacity and current loadingof each respective cell 138, 140, and 142 current capacities 144, 146148 to process a sub-job.

Based on the maximum capacity and current loading of each respectivecell 138, 140, 142, the current capacity of each cell at that instantmoment to process a sub-job is determined. For example, cell 138 has acurrent loading of 1000 pages of black lettering, and 1000 pages of redlettering. The maximum capacity of cell 138 is 2000 pages of blacklettering and 2000 pages of blue. At this amount, cell 138 has a currentcapacity to print 1000 pages more of black lettering, and 1000 pages ofblue lettering. If sub-job 134 has 500 pages of black lettering and 600page red lettering, then cell 138 would handle sub-job 134. As shownfrom step 158, a pull-type control policy 150 is used to assign thesub-job to the respective cell 138, 140, and 142 with the availablecurrent capacity to handle the sub-job. The pull-sequence can bearbitrarily chosen in a pre-specified manner. Cell 138 can start pullingthe subjobs followed by cell 140 and so on and so forth. One couldchoose any other sequence. In this instant, cell 138 has a currentcapacity for printing 1000 pages of black lettering and 1000 pages ofblue lettering. Cell 140 current capacity for printing 1000 pages ofblack and 1000 pages of blue lettering. The printing workflow system 130will split a document processing job 128 having 2000 pages to beassigned to cell 138, 140 respectively.

FIG. 14 illustrates using the print cell controller to administersub-job processing when one of the devices failed during processingaccording to one aspect of the present invention. In the event the printcell controller 170 recognizes that it cannot deliver what it wassupposed to due to unforeseen production uncertainty of an inputoperator availability, or machine breakdown it notifies the higher levelmodule of the printing workflow system 160 about that. The printingworkflow system 160 stores the production requirement in a buffer. Thesystem 160 is built in a manner such that whenever the print cellcontroller 170 determines the available capacity in the cell 168, itpolls the printing workflow system buffer 162 to determine if itcontains sub-jobs to be processed. Whenever the print cell controller170 detects jobs in the printing workflow system buffer 162, it pullsthe necessary amount of information for processing. For example, if cell168 failed after printing 300,000 print-insert jobs wherein it wassupposed to process 400,000 print-insert jobs. Print cell controller 170corresponding to cell 168 then puts the remaining unfinished sub-jobinformation in the printing system workflow buffer 162. Suppose thatprint cell controller 170 of cell 172 determines it has the capacity toprocess 100,000 print-insert sub-job 164. It queries the printingworkflow system buffer 162 in printing workflow system 160 anddetermines that sub-job 164 needs completion. It therefore pulls thesub-job 164 into cell 172 for processing.

Numerous modifications and alternative embodiments of the invention willbe apparent to those skilled in the art in view of the foregoingdescription. Accordingly, this description illustrative only and is forthe purpose of teaching those skilled in the art the best mode forcarrying out the invention. Details of the structure may varysubstantially without departing from the spirit of the invention, andexclusive use of all modifications that come within the scope of theappended claims is reserved. It is intended that the invention belimited only to the extent required by the appended claims and theapplicable rules of law.

1. A printing workflow system disposed in a network environment forcoordinating production of document processing jobs, said printingworkflow system comprising: a plurality of autonomous cells, whereineach autonomous cell is comprised of a plurality of devices andresources with at least some devices and resources performing distinctoperations from one another, and that are configured to be capable ofentirely completing at least one type of document processing job withinsaid autonomous cell such that there is no dependence upon otherautonomous cells for completing a selected one type of documentprocessing job; a workflow mapping module that determines workflow forthe selected one of said document processing jobs by identifying asequence of operations needed to be performed to complete the selecteddocument processing job; a job decomposition module for splitting theselected document processing job into a plurality of autonomous sub-jobsthat are accomplished by the autonomous cells, wherein splitting occursbased on determined differences between said sequence of operations ofthe selected document processing job and further splitting may occur onthe autonomous sub-jobs containing the same sequence of operations tofacilitate faster completion by using multiple devices; a cellassignment module for assigning said autonomous sub-jobs to said givenones of the autonomous cells capable of entirely accomplishing saidautonomous sub-jobs; and a product cell controller at a selected one ofthe given autonomous cells for receiving at least one of said autonomoussub-jobs and for further splitting said at least one autonomous-sub jobinto lots for processing among said plurality of devices in saidselected autonomous cell, wherein a selected device within the pluralityof devices and resources uses a kanban based pull control policy torequest work by sending authorization to the upstream product cellcontrollers to supply said device with authorized work.
 2. The printingworkflow system of claim 1 further comprising a storage device forholding information regarding capacities and capabilities of said cellsand for storing information regarding workflow of each documentprocessing job said workflow comprising a sequence of operations neededto be performed to accomplish the selected document processing job. 3.The printing workflow system of claim 2 wherein said product cellcontroller splits said autonomous sub-jobs into optimal lot sizesdetermined by analyzing said workflow of said selected documentprocessing job, wherein said document processing sub-job is split intosmaller lots for optimal utilization of said autonomous cells such thatas one said autonomous cell processes one said lot, another saidautonomous cell processes another said lot, simultaneously.
 4. Theprinting workflow system of claim 3 wherein said product cell controllerassigns a number of kanbans to said lots as workflow control elements.5. The printing workflow system of claim 4 wherein said product cellcontrollers send authorization in the form of kanbans to upstreamdevices calling for said upstream devices to supply said autonomouscells a with next lot and wherein said assigned kanbans are released assaid lots are processed and said assigned kanbans become available forfuture authorization of future lots.
 6. The printing workflow system ofclaim 2 wherein the workflow mapping module uses said information todetermine a workflow for a selected document processing job and the jobdecomposition module uses said workflow to split said documentprocessing job into autonomous sub-jobs.
 7. The printing workflow systemof claim 6 wherein the cell assignment module uses said workflow toassign said autonomous sub-jobs to given ones of said autonomous cellscapable of accomplishing said sub-job.
 8. A method used in a printworkflow system disposed in a network environment for coordinatingproduction of document processing jobs, said method comprising:partitioning document processing devices and resources into a pluralityof autonomous cells capable of entirely completing at least one type ofdocument processing job within said autonomous cell such that there isno dependence upon other cells for completing the document processingjob; determining workflow for a selected one of said document processingjobs by identifying a sequence of operations necessary to complete saiddocument processing job; splitting a selected document processing jobinto a plurality of autonomous sub-jobs that are able to be entirelyaccomplished by given ones of the autonomous cells, wherein splittingoccurs based on a determined difference between the sequence ofoperations of the document processing jobs and further splittingselectively occurs on another document processing job containing anidentical sequence of operations to facilitate faster completion byusing multiple devices; assigning said document processing sub-jobs tosaid given ones of the autonomous cells capable of accomplishing aselected one of the autonomous sub-jobs; and receiving at a selected oneof the given cells at least one of the autonomous sub-jobs and furthersplitting said one autonomous sub-job into lots for processing amongdevices and resources in said selected autonomous cell, wherein a devicewithin the plurality of devices and resources use a kanban based pullcontrol policy to request work by sending authorization to the upstreamproduct cell controller to supply said device with authorized work;including, a) splitting said autonomous sub-job into optimal lot sizesdetermined by analyzing said workflow of said selected documentprocessing job, whereby said autonomous sub-job is split into smallerlots for optimal utilization of said cell devices; b) assigning a numberof kanbans to said lots as workflow control elements; and c) sendingauthorization in the form of kanbans from cell devices to upstreamdevices calling for said upstream devices to supply said selected celldevices with a next lot and wherein said assigned kanbans are releasedas said lots are processed and said assigned kanbans become availablefor future authorization of future lots.
 9. The method recited in claim8 further comprising holding information regarding capacities andcapabilities of said cells and for storing information regardingworkflow of each document processing job, said workflow being comprisedof the sequence of operations needed to be performed to accomplish theselected document processing job.
 10. The method recited in claim 9wherein a job decomposition module uses said determined workflow for thesplitting of said document processing job into autonomous sub-jobs. 11.The method recited in claim 10 wherein the assigning the autonomouscells uses said workflow to assign said autonomous sub-jobs to givenones of said autonomous cells capable of accomplishing said autonomoussub-job.